Christopher Claflin, owner of Claflin Media, wants people to understand that the TikTok algorithm uses people’s natural dopamine to suck them in and keep them creating content.

According to Claflin, there are certain milestones after which a creator’s content will be pushed to other users to appear as though their content is going viral.

He says this happens for creators’ 20th to 40th videos, somewhere in there, making them feel like they’re getting popular. But it’s just a dopamine hit to keep them striving for the next viral video.

Unless TikTok “heats” up their content (i.e. intentionally aligns the algorithm behind them as they often do for celebrities or big influencers), those hits will be intermittent, which may be the most effective way to addict someone to creating content if Pavlov is to be believed.